Friday, May 2, 2008

NES coffee table update 6: wiring and final construction

While I was giving the coffee table its final paint job, I managed to get my hands on a spare NES controller PCB from a friend (The rubber contacts for the controller it was from were knackered, so I didn't ruin a perfectly good NES controller)

So I got some more coloured wires from Dick Smith and soldered them on to the NES PCB.This is pretty easy because all of the button contacts ran back to a solder point on the board.

I soldered the other end of the wires to a female 9-pin plug I also got from Dick Smith, so that I could plug it in and unplug it from the wiring on the coffee table.

Meanwhile, I had to put the hinges on the lid and bottom part of the table so it could open and close.I Had to chisel out the area where the hinges sat, so that they didn't protrude from the surface, creating a gap between the lid and the base.I also needed to glue screw another piece of wood to the edge that the hinges would sit on, to thicken it up (the 18mm MDF wasn't thick enough to screw the hinges into).

Here is what the hinges looked like once they were screwed in. The pin also comes out, so I can take the lid off whenever I want, like if I needed to repair it or something.

Here is all the wiring for the buttons from the back. The wires there lead into the male side of the 9-pin plug.Here is how I made the button contacts. The big piece of the underside of the button is a piece of copper, which is connected to the ground wire.I used a piece of brass for the other side of the contact because it is more springy than copper, thus it won't just bend flat if the button is pressed all the way down.

And here are the final pictures of how the coffee table looks, all finished and awesome-like!Well it's not quite finished yet; my sister stole the piece of glass that I had designed this for (which sits on top, so you can use it as a table), so I had to order a new one from mitre10 (130 fookin' bucks! That's more than this whole thing cost to make!).

May awesomely daggy 60s styled futon.

Here you can see I have already filled it with crap. It's good though, my room is now a whole lot cleaner.p.s. that's not my n-gage, is swear...... it's my spare one...

And here's a picture of my girlfriend having enormous amounts of retarded-looking fun playing Super Mario bros. 3;

Okay, I got one more post for the coffee table, even though it's finished.I'll post a picture of what it looks like with the piece of glass on, and I'll post a video of us havingmega-awesome fun playing it together (and me kind of cracking the shits at Emily for not jumping at the right time.)And I think I'll also post links to all of the NES coffee table posts, so it's easier to view the progress.

wow i feel stupid.that must be how regular controllers work as well then?just completing a circuit...wow, i can't believe i only just got that....That table is so cool...i wish i had the time, or money...or necessity to do something like that.

You are my newest hero. You remind me of me, except you actually finish the projects that you start.

I'm currently working on rack-mounting an NES with MIDI controls so I can play the music circuit like an instrument. We'll see if that ever gets done. It's functional now but the finishing touches are sometimes the toughest part.

The copper and such is decent enough... but the wiring, people? The male plug and female plug fit together-- it's like plugging something into your wall. The lamp is the female plug, the socket is the male; they fit together. The sole purpose of that was so if Kyle wants to, he can unplug the controller and make it non-functioning, and just a plain, awesomesauce coffee table. Get an old NES controller. Open it up. Look inside. COPY. Go to your local store as well, they'll help you find all the parts once you explain exactly what you are doing.

I'm going to make this, if I can find glass cheaper... I don't have 130$ to throw around lol! Or maybe I'll make it non-functioning, and use a high-gloss laquer of some sort, to make the wood extremely durable so I can scrub it.. I'm prone to spilling juice and dripping jam onto our current mirror-table.

Hey, there's really not much more I can say about the wiring. The nes controller was easy to wire to, I just traced back the tracks leading to each of the buttons, and effectively bypass the buttons, so instead of the button on the controller closing the circuit, the button on the giant controller closes the circuit.

You don't need any special kit to make a USB version (I made one myself, so I can plug an actual NES/SNES/megadrive controller into my PC to play emulators), just buy the cheapest generic USB controller you can find I got a double set for 5-10 bucks.It would by pretty much the same as the NES controller; just pull the board out of the controller and solder wires onto the two sides of the button contacts for each button, and rewire them to the button contacts of the controller you make.

I don't know what to say. It's very good. and to think I'm trying to get money together to buy a Nintendo because I'm such a fan. lol, you went and built a giant controller. Awesomesauce! (as one poster put it)